'End of the Road' review: Queen Latifah and Ludacris take a detour in tedious Netflix thriller

When you bring together two super-sized characters like Queen Latifah and Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges on a family car tour deep into redneck territory, The least you can try to do is make it a little funny. But Netflix feature end of the road is more or less straightforward, eschewing comedy for the sake of running- of-the-mill thrillers that end up being neither original nor particularly exciting.

Directed by TV veteran Millicent Shelton (30 Rock, Black,Jessica Jones and many other shows), the feature travels to familiar places, albeit focusing on a black family trapped in a dangerous white world full of drugs, guns, bigotry and violence. It definitely has some oil in its tank at the beginning, which is a little promising, but the story takes a predictable route and fails to provide enough suspense or interest to make it through.

End of the road

The bottom line
is more of a middle way.

Release Date: Friday, September 9 (Netflix)
Throwing:
Queen Latifah, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Beau Bridges, Mychale Faith Lee, Shaun Dixon, Frances Lee McCain

Writers:
Christopher J. Moore, David Loughery30
Rated R, 1 hour minutes

early endowment road END Some potential is its setting: Brenda (Latifah) is a recently widowed mother who can no longer afford life in Los Angeles. So she packs the pickup with her two kids Kelly (Mychala Faith Lee) and Cam (Sean Dixon), and her schmuck brother Reggie (Bridges) and moves into her mother’s home in Houston. .

If you look at the map, you’ll see that such a drive would take Brenda and her family across a vast desert and at least one person who voted red in the last presidential election State (Texas). Sheldon and writers Christopher Moore and David Loughry amply illustrate the premise—perhaps never more than in the early scenes when Brenda confronts and wisely stands up against a pair of old school trying to hold her back The racist scene is better.

After that, at the end of the road the family met a man who was both serious and seriously stupid drugs The deal fell through, leaving them with a bag of stolen loot (thanks Reggie) with nowhere to hide. Enter Beau Bridges and play as a Sheriff who takes over from The Dukes of Hazzard or Smokey and the Robber , he joins a nasty group of locals that also includes a meth head (Tabatha Shaun) and a skinhead (Keith Jardine).

Led by Latifah and Bridges, most of it could have been used for teasing, subverting the boilerplate scene in a clever Jordan Peele fashion while mocking all South of paranoia. Instead, the filmmakers tried to inject pathos into a formula that might be used less often. When Reggie said, “Maybe I’m just an assistant manager at Chick-fil-A, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have dreams of my own either!” Seriously, you have to imagine that even Ludacris felt that statement Kind of funny.

As with writing, directing is useful, and leaders do their best to use material that feels sub-par. Action sequences are often lacklustre, and the locations—roadside motels, restaurants, trailer parks, creepy country houses with dungeons—seem to be chosen from a B-movie address book. Scoring is everywhere, but it doesn’t bring extra excitement.

By the way, that doesn’t mean End of the Road can’t be watched, and if you’re looking for Something quick and easy with the expected twists and turns, then it does the job. It’s a bit like programming your GPS before a long drive — you always know where you’re going, all the time.

Full Credits

Production Company: Edmonds Entertainment, Mark Burg Productions
Publisher: Netflix
Cast: Queen Latifah, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Beau Bridges, Mychale Faith Lee , Sean Dixon, Francis Lee McCain

Director: Millicent Sheldon 29 Screenwriter: Christopher J. Moore , David Logry

Composer: Craig DeLeon
Casting Director: Kim Coleman
Rated R, 1 hour minutes

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